Minnesota Twins: Elizabethton team bus in fatal Florida crash

A bus carrying a Minnesota Twins minor league team was involved in a fatal crash near Jacksonville, Fla., early Tuesday morning.

No Twins players or staff members were injured in the crash, which involved the organization’s rookie-level affiliate based in Elizabethton, Tenn. However, the driver of a second vehicle involved in the accident died after the head-on collision, Twins director of baseball communications Dustin Morse said in a statement.

According to Morse, Florida State Patrol officers were on the scene almost immediately; they had received reports of a car traveling the wrong way on Interstate 295. The crash happened just after 4:30 a.m., according to the Florida State Patrol website.

The bus driver saw the car approaching and tried to pull over to the side of the road, but still was hit by the car, Morse said.

A second bus was sent to the crash site, and the Twins’ traveling group was back on the road at about 6:30 a.m. The team’s new estimated arrival time in Elizabethton was 4 p.m. EDT.

The Elizabethton team was headed north out of extended spring training in Fort Myers, Fla. Several players newly added to the organization in the recent amateur draft were believed to be on the bus.

This is the second time in the past month a bus carrying Twins minor leaguers has been involved in a crash. Triple-A Rochester’s bus collided with a vehicle in the predawn hours of May 22 on the way back from Lehigh Valley, Penn.

A replacement bus had to be sent after the May crash, as well, but no one was injured.